Department of English and World Languages

The study of literature provides an outstanding opportunity to cultivate the life of the mind, perhaps the most rewarding of all human pursuits. Reading and analyzing literature teaches us to think critically and deliberately, never shying away from difficult or controversial topics.

Choose English

Welcome to the Department of English and World Languages, and thank you for visiting our website, where you can discover who we are, what we teach, and how to spot us around campus. We hope you’ll find reason to stop by—or stop us walking by—to say hello and get to know us better.

Studying literature and languages at the University of West Florida is demanding. Our faculty and students are the kind who ask much of themselves. Working here with us is a two-way street of the mind: as teachers, we pose questions and seek answers; in return, we ask the same from our students, undergraduate and graduate alike.

Studying with us is also multiplicitously rewarding. Together we read— to understand, to enjoy, to be awed and broadened—and we speak, we write, to clarify, to capture ideas, to share with others the new insights we have stumbled upon, inherited, earned. The department is a hub of loud, embracing energy that generates student awareness of language and culture that is crucial for success in the professional world, and we also publish two literary journals: Troubadour, the student magazine of poetry, fiction and graphic art, and Panhandler, distributed and recognized nationally as an important showcase for fresh creative voices.

Our faculty all hold advanced degrees—from the Universities of Oxford, Washington, Miami, Michigan, North Carolina, South Carolina, Southern California, Florida State, Syracuse, Duke, Samford, Rutgers, Yale and West Florida. We regularly contribute to the international conversation of scholars and critics, publishing translations, editions, articles, monographs and book-length studies on, among other topics, William Blake, Shakespeare, Chaucer, Hemingway, James Joyce, literary theory, film, television, gender and sexuality, even bullfighting. We have been named Fellows of the National Humanities Center, the Center for Advanced Study in the Humanities at the University of Edinburgh, the American Council of Learned Societies, and the Mellon Foundation, at Harvard University. One of us is President-Elect of the South Atlantic Modern Language Association. We have several times received grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Mamie Hixon on WEAR TV-3's "Angels in our Midst"

Laura Arguea Receives Florida Foreign Language Association Award

The Florida Foreign Language Association recognized Laura Arguea for her contributions to the profession. She was one of the recipients of the 2014 Most Valuable Teacher recognition, during the FFLA conference, October, 2014.

Laura Arguea Receives 2014 Excellence in Teaching Award

Mamie Hixon Honored by Pensacola Chapter of UNCF

(from PNJ) People on the Move: Wednesday, March 26, 2014

United Negro College Fund

Lewis Bear Jr., chairman of the University of West Florida Board of Trustees and president/CEO of the Lewis Bear Company, and Mamie Webb Hixon, assistant professor of English and director of the UWF Writing Lab, were honored by The Greater Pensacola Chapter of the United Negro College Fund during its Inaugural Chairman’s Luncheon.

Both Bear and Hixon received the Champion Award, recognizing their dedication to education, students and the community. The luncheon served as a fundraising event to support scholarships for Pensacola area students who otherwise would not have the financial resources to attend college.

The UNCF Greater Pensacola Chapter was established to create a college-ready culture in Northwest Florida that provides students with support to succeed in college. UNCF is the nation’s largest and most effective minority education organization that supports students through scholarships and other programs.

Angela Calcaterra

Angela Calcaterra Receives Best Dissertation Award

Dr. Calcaterra was awarded the William Dougald MacMillan prize for the best dissertation in the Department of English and Comparative Literature at UNC-Chapel Hill for 2012.